A Jennings County judge sentenced 16-year-old Landon Doty of North Vernon to 54 years in prison Monday for raping a non-verbal, autistic 7-year-old boy on a special-needs school bus, capping a case that began with a bus monitor's tip and ended with a jury needing less than two hours to convict him on all 12 counts.
Judge Murielle Bright handed down 16 years each on the rape, attempted rape, child molesting and attempted child molesting charges, 2.5 years for sexual battery and attempted sexual battery, 2.5 years suspended to probation for criminal confinement, and one year suspended to probation for public indecency, according to WDRB. The station reports the family of the 7-year-old said the child was left with permanent injuries, and family lawyers said the family expressed deep relief following the jury's verdict.
Doty was accused of repeatedly assaulting the boy over several weeks in April 2025, with the case coming to light after a school bus monitor noticed him pushing the child off his lap on April 17, 2025, and requested a review of the surveillance footage, per the same account. Jennings County Prosecutor Brian Belding then reviewed more than 300 hours of bus video recorded between February 27 and April 16, 2025, before filing charges, according to WTHR.
Judge Waived Doty Into Adult Court
Doty was 15 at the time of the alleged assaults, but Jennings Circuit Magistrate Judge Christopher Doran ordered in June 2025 that he be tried as an adult. Doran wrote in a court order that bus surveillance videos showed Doty acted in a calculated manner, pausing his actions whenever he believed he was being watched, as reported by The Republic News. Indiana law allows judges to waive juvenile jurisdiction in cases involving heinous delinquent acts, the outlet notes. A long-time court officer described Doty as a predator in a probable cause affidavit, per WDRB, and said his alleged actions were beyond rehabilitation under the juvenile justice system.
At trial in late March, Belding told jurors that Doty targeted the second-grade special education student because the boy's non-verbal autism made him, in the prosecutor's words, the perfect victim who could not report the abuse, according to WTHR. WDRB reports Belding argued Doty's conduct was calculated, deliberate and intentional.
Defense Said Video Showed No Sexual Acts
Doty took the stand as the only witness called by the defense and denied touching the child sexually, testifying that he and the boy had been riding the bus together since December 2024 and that he used calming techniques such as rubbing the boy's hair while the child's head was in his lap and bouncing him on his knee, per WDRB. He testified he and the child were messing around on the bus and compared bouncing him to what one would do with a kid.
Doty's attorneys argued the state's evidence was circumstantial, that bus videos did not show the alleged acts, and that Doty's DNA was not found on the child, WDRB reports. They also pointed to testimony from the bus driver and bus monitor, who said they saw nothing alarming and that the boy did not appear upset after the alleged incidents; the defense said the bus driver did not see anything firsthand. Jurors, however, watched school bus videos for more than an hour during the two-day trial, and the public and media were asked to leave the courtroom during that viewing, according to the same report.
Grandmother Maintains His Innocence
Doty's grandmother and legal guardian, Ethel Doty, said her grandson viewed himself as a caretaker to the 7-year-old and was simply trying to make him happy, WDRB reports. She had stated in October 2025, per WTHR, that Doty had a learning disability and was placed on the special-needs bus for non-sexual issues involving keeping his hands to himself, and his guardians maintained throughout the trial that the bus video did not show sexual misconduct. Ethel Doty said at the time of the conviction that she planned to appeal the verdict.
Fired Bus Staff Face Separate Federal Suit
The Jennings County School Corporation board voted to fire bus driver Scott Alcorn and bus monitor Tanya Perry on April 29, 2025, after placing both on administrative leave less than two weeks after police opened their investigation, according to the Seymour Tribune. The family of the 7-year-old has since filed a federal civil lawsuit against Alcorn, Perry and the school district, alleging gross negligence, a violation of the child's civil rights, and what the suit calls a complete failure to properly supervise and protect a vulnerable, non-verbal child.
The federal complaint, filed in April in U.S. District Court in New Albany, details 14 separate instances of assault between February 27 and April 16, 2025, and alleges Doty was assigned to sit next to the boy in the back of the bus after previously picking on another student, per The Republic News. Family lawyers said the assaults occurred on April 16, 2025, and at least 13 prior occasions. The suit seeks $9.8 million for the boy and $700,000 for his mother, for a combined $10.5 million in damages that the family says is warranted given the harm caused.
In May and June court filings, the school district, Alcorn and Perry denied all allegations of negligence, with Alcorn and Perry asserting statutory immunity from liability and the district saying it lacks sufficient information regarding many of the complaint's specific allegations, according to The Republic News. Attorneys for all sides submitted a joint case management plan in July asking the federal court to schedule the civil trial for December 2027, a date still subject to the presiding judge's approval.
According to the Indiana Department of Education, school districts are expected to review school bus routes and safety policies annually. Indiana Administrative Rules and Policies state that 575 IAC 1-5.5 helps keep school buses safe for students with disabilities and is routinely enforced through school bus inspections.
No Local Transition Program for Doty
In July, Jackson-Jennings Community Corrections told the court that Doty was ineligible for community transition programs because the agency lacks age-appropriate sex offender services for juveniles, an evaluation submitted by intake coordinator Autumn Tormoehlen, according to The Republic News. That finding came just weeks before Doty's sentencing hearing, closing off what could have been an alternative to imprisonment as the 54-year sentence was handed down Monday.
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